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Today Is Election Day
The New York Times is liveblogging the elections. ...
... AND the Guardian is liveblogging the elections, too.
Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "The Department of Justice plans to send federal monitors to 18 states to watch for discrimination against voters. Monitors will head to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin." ...
... Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "The obscure rules of elections will be under intense scrutiny on Tuesday as civic groups, political parties and the Department of Justice, concerned about fair play, monitor polling places for irregularities. New rules to limit same-day registration or require photo identification will be in effect in some states, even as their constitutionality is argued in the courts. Most of the changes were adopted by Republican legislatures in the name of electoral integrity, even though evidence of voter fraud was negligible. They are opposed by Democrats who say tighter rules are aimed at discouraging minorities, poor people and college students from voting. All those groups tend to prefer Democrats." ...
... CW: I have to give Eckholm credit for "telling it like it is," rather than formulating a "both sides" pretense. This is a too-rare example of honest political reporting. He does give a GOP partisan a one-off, but most of his report centers on the ugly facts. Refreshing.
Joe Coscarelli & Margaret Hartmann of New York highlight what they think are "the 12 most interesting midterm races to watch."
Jonathan Martin & Nate Cohn of the New York Times suggest some things to look for as election results roll in.
Roger Simon of Politico: "We keep reelecting the same yahoos, expecting the results to be different.... The candidates ... believe enough money will buy enough attack ads to ensure them a victory. So public service is reduced to gathering bucks to pay for the next empty campaign. 'The hardest thing about any political campaign,' [Adlai Stevenson once] said, 'is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.'"
Danny Vinik of the New Republic: Also on a number of state ballots today: Medicaid expansion (indirectly), minimum wage, marijuana legalization & abortion.
"Let My People Go." John Oliver on state legislative elections. Thanks to James S. for the link:
Brent Budowsky of the Hill: "In a last-minute gift to Democrats on the eve of the midterm elections, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has announced his plan to push for Senate Republicans to declare a rightist war against Democrats if the GOP wins control of the Senate. Set aside the campaign pitches of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Colorado Senate candidate Rep. Cory Gardner (R), Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst (R), Georgia GOP Senate candidate David Perdue and Alaska GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, who promise to end gridlock in Washington and govern for 'all of the people.' Cruz says they are all wrong.... Cruz is the real voice of what will happen if Republicans take control of the Senate." CW: Budowsky is an opinion writer.
Colorado. Adam Weinstein of Gawker: "Democratic Colorado Sen. Mark Udall's tenuous chance at reelection took a hard blow Sunday after he was cussed out in the middle of a public stump speech by one of his own ultra-wealthy donors [Leo Beserra] because, in the donor's words, 'fucking abortion is all he talks about.' Udall -- the scion of an American West political dynasty that descended from one of the country's most infamous religious mass-killers -- is a first-termer with a shaky tenure in a purple state where opinions are bitterly divided on the president and his political party." The Guardian story, by Paul Lewis, is here.
Iowa. Charles Pierce gets into it with Joni Ernst. It turns out that according to Ernst, it's a "press ... opinion" that only one person in the U.S. -- Dr. Craig Spencer -- has Ebola. See, inconvenient facts are merely the opinions of the liberal media. Right Wing World is a supernatural place. ...
... AND Pierce claims Bruce Braley "delivered his own eulogy" at a campaign event last night. "Braley contributed to his own peril by being approximately as charismatic as a green salad, and citing his ability to 'work across the aisle,' while his opponent was tossing red meat under cover of a very effective camouflage. There is no longer an effective and reliable constituency out there for actual governance, at least not during elections."
Louisiana. Brian Beutler: Mary Landrieu was right, of course, when she said last week that "President Obama's unpopularity in her state, in part, to the fact that 'the South has not always been the friendliest place for African Americans.'" She was also being politically astute: "Absent the motivating effect his candidacy has on black voters, Landrieu needs to find other ways to juice black turnout. Signaling to them that she's aware of the state's race problems, and that she's on the right side of that struggle, isn't an error 'politically,' as [that idiot Mark] Halperin suggested. It is a matter of political necessity." (No link.)
Maine. Gov. Paul LePage (RTP), at a campaign rally with Chris Christie, in predicting his own victory, said he wanted to put Portland Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz "on suicide watch.... We've got to make sure that for the next 24 hours that he doesn't go anywhere near the new Bucksport bridge." Here's the AP report, via the Press Herald. ...
... FYI, here's Nemitz's most recent Press Herald column (Nov. 2): "Here's a counterintuitive solution to Maine's not-really-Ebola crisis: Take Gov. Paul LePage, Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Sheila Pinette and lock them in a remote cabin somewhere in Aroostook County. It's the best way to prevent their ignorance from infecting the entire state of Maine."
New York. The Daily News endorses Michael Grimm! "In Domenic Recchia, the Democrats have fielded a candidate so dumb, ill-informed, evasive and inarticulate that voting for a thuggish Republican who could wind up in a prison jumpsuit starts to make rational sense." Via Joe Coscarelli. CW: That an endorsement for the ages.
AND in Other News ...
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: For too many Americans, there are no second chances. (One in every 13 black adults across the country cannot vote in this election because of a criminal record, according to the Sentencing Project.) Read the whole post.
Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers with what critics have dubbed 'supercookies' -- markers so powerful that it;s difficult for even savvy users to escape them. The technology has allowed the companies to monitor which sites their customers visit, cataloging their tastes and interests. Consumers cannot erase these supercookies or evade them by using browser settings, such as the 'private' or 'incognito' modes that are popular among users wary of corporate or government surveillance."
Tina Nguyen of Mediaite: "During a Q&A in Canada, Glenn Greenwald was asked why his colleague and NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, wasn't on any of the social media platforms -- i.e., Facebook -- and Greenwald didn't mince words.'He doesn't use Facebook because he hates Facebook,' he said. 'They're one of the worst violators of privacy in history. Nobody should use Facebook.'" CW: Ah, eventually I knew I'd find something Ed & I had in common.
Shane Harris of the Daily Beast: "At the same time Gen. Keith Alexander was running the National Security Agency..., he was also trading stocks in an obscure technology company that had a sweetheart deal with one of the NSA's most important sources of intelligence -- the global phone and Internet giant AT&T.... The deal between AT&T and Synchronoss wasn't a secret, but Alexander's financial stake in it was. The NSA only handed over his financial-disclosure forms showing that he was an investor in October, following a lawsuit by investigative journalist Jason Leopold. The agency initially had claimed that revealing any of Alexander's investments could jeopardize national security.... Some of Alexander's other stock investments have come under scrutiny in recent weeks, raising questions about whether the former NSA director was using information he gleaned in the course of his official duties to influence his stock picks."
Steve Benen: The U.N. published a terrifying climate-change report. Republican legislators say "Meh." Lamar Smith, "the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee said on Sunday that a United Nations report that said the earth is heading toward 'severe, pervasive, and irreversible' climate change impacts is 'nothing new.... Similar to previous reports, the latest findings appear more political than scientific,' he said. 'People are tired of the re-packaged rhetoric. It's time to stop fear mongering and focus on an honest dialogue about real options.'... The more serious the crisis becomes, the more forceful the GOP becomes in rejecting the science." ...
... Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "The Weather Channel has released an official position statement on global warming, just two days after the channel's co-founder [John Coleman] told Fox News' Megyn Kelly that climate change is based on 'bad science' and does not exist. In the statement, The Weather Channel said the planet is 'indeed warming,' with temperatures increasing 1 to 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. The statement acknowledged that humans are helping make the planet warmer due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation." Coleman is a former TV weatherman, not a meteorologist.
Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen discussed the long-term outlook for the U.S. economy in their first one-on-one meeting since she took charge at the central bank, the White House said Monday. The pair also discussed the president's upcoming trip to Asia and Australia, which is expected to include discussion of a Pacific trade deal and a meeting of the G-20 economies."
Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "U.S. officials are weighing whether to broaden the air campaign in Syria to strike a militant group that is a rival to the Islamic State and that is poised to take over a strategically vital corridor from Turkey. Extremists from the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group were said Monday to be within a few miles of the Bab al-Hawa crossing in northwestern Syria on the Turkish border, one of only two openings through which the moderate Free Syrian Army receives military and humanitarian supplies provided by the United States and other backers." ...
... Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The Pentagon on Monday sought to play down the significance of reports that two moderate Syrian rebel groups, armed by the United States, had surrendered to an al Qaeda affiliate. 'There are battles all the time between these various groups, and territory trades hands in these local areas regularly,' Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said." ...
... CW: If the situation were not so deadly serious, this would be hilarious. Kristina Wong: "President Obama's strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been a 'disaster,' Sen. John McCain said Monday. McCain cited reports that Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria had defeated two major groups of moderate Syrian rebels -- the same forces that the United States is arming and training in their battle against President Bashar Assad." Ya know, John, it was you like a broken record, insisting "Arm the moderates. Arm the moderates." You are railing against your own damned policy, you crazy old coot.
Kevin Quealy & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act -- its expansion of Medicaid to low-income people around the country -- must be optional for states. But what if it had ruled differently? More than three million people, many of them across the South, would now have health insurance through Medicaid, according to an Upshot analysis of data from Enroll America and Civis Analytics. The uninsured rate would be two percentage points lower." ...
... CW: Thanks, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, et al. Some of those three million will die because of your decision, & many will unnecessarily get sick. Sometimes you make lawmakers do things because they're too fucking nasty to do the right thing on their own. If you think doing the right thing requires bending the Constitution a teeny bit, so be it. ...
... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "... several individuals with life-threatening health conditions ... joined an amicus brief filed Monday in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The brief asks the court to reject a claim brought by opponents of the Affordable Care Act seeking to cut off health subsidies to people entitled to receive them in nearly three dozen states.... Indeed, the Halbig plaintiffs' legal theory was rejected by dozens of Republican elected officials who called upon the Supreme Court to repeal the law. Thirty-six senators -- all Republicans -- signed an amicus brief in 2012 explaining that Obamacare is 'dependent on each of its interlocking provisions,' including the insurance subsidies. Twenty-four state governors or attorneys general signed a brief in the same litigation explaining that the Affordable Care Act's 'core provisions are carefully constructed to work in unison....'"
David McCabe of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to the Senate's filibuster rules from House Democrats. The justices declined to revisit a lower court ruling that found the congressmen did not having legal standing to sue over the rules in the upper chamber. The Democratic congressmen -- Reps. John Lewis (Ga.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), Michael Michaud (Maine) and Hank Johnson (Ga.) -- joined with Common Cause in 2012 to file the legal challenge, arguing that the Senate's requirement for 60 votes to break a filibuster runs counter to the constitutional idea of majority rule."
Jack Jenkins of Think Progress: "A federal district court in Oregon has declared Secular Humanism a religion, paving the way for the non-theistic community to obtain the same legal rights as groups such as Christianity."
** Paul Starr in the American Prospect: "The United States began as two societies -- one based on racial slavery, the other on free labor -- and despite all that has since happened in the nation's history, today's political divisions are descended from that original split.... Since the 1980s..., after a long period when the prevailing currents favored convergence, the trends have reversed, and the country has split apart along its old seams...." ...
... Conservative Michael Gerson: "Republicans are stuck in a Reagan timewarp." They find support "not in history but in mythology."
Scapegoating Immigrants Is Traditional! Dan Dinello, in Juan Cole's Informed Consent: "The attempt by some GOP politicians to tie the ebola outbreak to immigration issues is nothing new in American or European history. Immigrants have often been despised, feared and stigmatized by the native-born as harbingers of disease or even death. Conflating disease carriers with foreigners and social outcasts is a practice that stretches back to the Black Death when helpless Church Officials -- fearing loss of public confidence -- blamed Jews, immigrants and witches for the plague."
My favorite thing about Mitt Romney now is, imagine if the second-string quarterback on a football team got to just go around on all the shows and go, 'I'd have fucking nailed that pass.' For Romney, it&'s, 'Ebola? There wouldn't even be Ebola if I were president. I'm not sure Africa would still exist.' -- Jon Stewart
... Chris Smith of New York interviews Jon Stewart., ostensibly about Stewart's new film "Rosewater," but about other stuff, too.
Mary Jalonick of the AP: "A 2010 email from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says his department was 'waiting for the go-ahead' from the White House before accepting the resignation of employee Shirley Sherrod, according to newly released documents, despite Obama administration assertions that her ouster was Vilsack's decision alone. Lawyers for [a] Breitbart colleague ... filed the emails in court to bolster their argument that government decisions were the reason for Sherrod's dismissal, not the blog post."
Putin's Russia Is Fairly Horrible. Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "A Russian monument to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has been taken down, after Apple CEO Tim Cook's announcement last week that he is gay. The monument, which is in the shape of an oversize iPhone, was located on a university campus in St. Petersburg, one of the more liberal cities in Russia, until its removal Friday. It was put there in 2013 under the initiative of Maxim Dolgopolov, head of the holding company ZEFS, known in English as the Western European Financial Union, which cited Cook's revelations about his sexuality in a Bloomberg Businessweek article last Thursday as the reason the company decided to remove the statue." See also Infotainment.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Joshua Keating of Slate with "The latest installment in a continuing series in which American events are described using the tropes and tone normally employed by the American media to describe events in other countries." Here's a sampling: "In this deeply traditional society, where great import is accorded to family ties, powerful clans build patronage networks, and political office is often passed between relatives. Remarkably, one race pits the cousin of a former governor against the daughter of a former senator."
Jonathan Bernstein reiterates how media bias is helping Republicans. ...
... CW: Let me just add how unnecessary this is. Bernstein argues, via Norm Ornstein, that the media "adopted a narrative" early in the year & is sticking with it. In fact, the so-called media narrative is partially true. But there is no reason whatsoever that the media cannot note outlier instances where the "narrative" fails. So, where the narrative is, Republicans didn't nominate any Todd Akins this year, reports should add caveats like "of course, Joni Ernst & Tom Cotton are full-blown loonies." (Okay, hints to that effect.)
Everything Is Obama's Fault, Media Edition. Juliet Eilperin & David Nakamura of the Washington Post are unaware that Congress, the courts & the media have any influence over politics. "Where Did Obama Go Wrong?" is the headline of their piece in today's paper. It is Obama's fault, for instance, that Congress didn't act on immigration. Huh? The reporters note that even former Cabinet members Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates & Leon Panetta "question[ed] his approach" to ISIS. What the reporters didn't bother to note was that Obama was right to be concerned that U.S.-supplied weapons would fall into the wrong hands.
News Lede
BBC News: "Police in Mexico say they have arrested the fugitive mayor of the town of Iguala, where 43 students went missing in September. Jose Luis Abarca was detained by federal police officers in the capital, Mexico City, a police spokesman said. Mexican officials have accused Mr Abarca of ordering police to confront the students on the day of their disappearance on 26 September."
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